John B Curtis
#144621 Most Popular
About
Famous as the first person to market and commercially produce chewing gum, Curtis made the product from spruce tree resin. He and his father eventually formed the Curtis & Son company, which manufactured nearly two thousand packages of chewing gum daily.
Before Fame
Before coming up with the idea to mass produce chewing gum, he worked on a farm.
Trivia
His chewing gum varieties included "Licorice Lulu," "Sugar Cream," and "Yankee Spruce."
Family Life
He and his brother and sister grew up in Maine as the children of John and Mary Curtis. In the late 1870s, he married Alice Bacon.
Associated With
He and microwave oven inventor Percy Spencer were both born in Maine during the nineteenth century.
